UK economy comes to a standstill

UK economy comes to a standstill

news.bbc.co.uk

UK economic growth ground to a halt between April and June, according to the latest official figures. The Office for National Statistics said the economy stalled, showing no growth from the first quarter of 2008.

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[edit on 22/8/2008 by Mirthful Me]

The figures were the weakest since 1992 and the news sent the pound lower against the dollar and the euro. What dose this mean for Britan, Europe and the United States? what dose recession mean? i am 25 and i have not experianced this before as an adult, dose this mean bankrupt?

news.bbc.co.uk
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it is also reported that most of europe is falling the same way, can someone who is a bit wiser and of older age, comfort me of what this could mean? my house is paid for by the goverment

[edit on 22-8-2008 by deathpoet69]

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[edit on 22/8/2008 by Mirthful Me]

reply to post by deathpoet69


Nope, it just means the economy hasn't grown. We're not in a recession (yet) - indeed, we won't know that a recession is happening until we're a couple of months into one. There's a Q&A on the BBC Website about recessions, what they are and what they mean. The UK has experienced quite a few of them over the years (both major and minor recessions). Prior to 1992, they happened once every few years. It's a sign of the times, but things will probably pick up again towards the end of the year/early next year as oil prices drop and the 'credit crunch' has worked its way out of the economy.



[edit on 22/8/08 by Ste2652]

reply to post by Ste2652


Thank you for the resurrance. So, what about getting a job? is that now unlikly, how will they find a way to pick it up?

It's very interesting that we are at standstill, and may yo yo around 0.5% to minus 0.5% and do nothing economically really, but if it doesn't get two quarters consecutively in the negative, it's not a recession. What will it do for jobs? They're drying up in my area. Point is it is going to be hard times, but the label of recession might not hit. Our government has presided over the biggest increase to the highest level of distrust of statistics and when it starts telling us that hey it's ok, it's not technically a recession, people are going to distrust them even more. House prices down, repossessions up, jobs going in construction, inflation out of control, these are all pointers to a recession even if the statistics don't reflect that any more.

reply to post by deathpoet69


Well, the UK has already seen unemployment rise over recent months (especially in manufacturing and construction jobs). It really depends what kind of job you're hunting for, I suppose.

As for how to improve things, it's difficult to say. It really depends on how businesses, government and consumers (in that order, I think) act in the coming months.

For example, if businesses are willing to take a temporary drop in profits to keep as many of their employees in a job as possible (i.e. no mass redundancies), that might help the economy to improve because it would mean unemployment figures remain fairly low. If, however, there are mass layoffs, it will make a recovery much slower and harder to achieve - fewer people will have a job, therefore they will spend less (because they have no money), so even more businesses will sack people, and so on. It becomes a vicious circle.

Personally, though, I don't think many businesses will be altrusitic. They'll think about short-term profit rather than long-term stability, as they always do (see the banking sector and the mess it's got itself into as a perfect and timely example - the Northern Rock fiasco and so on).

I think the 'Official' numbers are admitting a slowdown leading into into a possible recession... the UK is light years ahead of the BS 'numbers' the U.S. government is trying to pass off as Real.

any recession, which might entail a slowdown in hiring...
shouldn't be as severe in the UK as in the USA which actually produced all those fraudulently packaged and rated debt instruments which is the basic cause of your and all of Europe's economic troubles.


would you explain your remark that "my house is paid for by the government"
is your rent subsidized... or did the Govt hand over a house to you free & clear ?!


thanks,

it doesnt seem to be hitting the retail side
since they have shown an increase in sales on the highstreet,

oh well
looks like a bright future

if things do get bad
whats the worst we can expect

reply to post by St Udio


I don't think you can blame the problems on the US entirely (although, due to the deeply inter-linked nature of the American and European economies, US problems have undoubtedly had a major effect). There are numerous examples of British businesses taking stupid risks and coming up short (the aforementioned Northern Rock bank is a good example; and now they have the tenacity to expect the government to bail them out and take the flak for it).

reply to post by bodrul


Thats exactly what I was going to say! Retail in the NE is still booming, people are still buying and the shops are still hiring many more people...especially now with xmas round the corner there's always a mad rush to employ more staff to cope with the xmas shoppers.

The downside I've seen so far is in the industrial sector, I have many friends who have been made redundant over the last few months (myself included), lots of people I know with trades are having trouble finding work.

It seems that manufacturing jobs are drying up and retail jobs are becoming more numerous. A few of the employment agencies I've spoken to over the last few weeks have told me jobs are like gold now...I'll let people draw there own conclusions from that.

reply to post by St Udio



its what you call dss which when your on welfare or if you get a 16 hour job they pay the rent of your house flat out. if your working full time then you have to pay for yourself.

reply to post by fred3110


I agree, as you know fred i live in the north east to, i have applied to KFC and woolworths, I am not acedmically well and downed but just having a job, any job, would be sigficallty alot healther.

If myself and my partner got both jobs, the income would be better. my house rent is only £300 a month, my bills come to £50 a month or so, my food is about £60 a month, by the end of all that we paid off with our benefits (welfare) we get £60 every 2 week, if we both had a job, we would be saving around 400-500 a month and thats alot to someone like us. If just one person had a job we would only be £10 up everyweek from benefits

reply to post by deathpoet69


problem is people (alot of people work more then 16 hours a week
and work off the book, example are asian restraunts (being asian i would know)
and other places.

that take on people and show less hours then they work
so both parties pay less tax and the other party gets state money and everything else handed to them.

thats one problem that needs sorting.
and is a large drain

reply to post by bodrul




is that in most jobs were there like small business's